Gleeful

I'm totally obsessed with Fox's new show Glee. I've watched both episodes (and the web exclusive clip) three times already. I even visited the fan site (I know!) I highly recommend it. Really funny, without being slapstick; and all the characters are totally over the top charicatures. I hope they don't ruin it by making them more "human" as time goes on. I don't know how long it will last, I imagine that it's got to be expensive to produce since every episode has 3 or 4 music videos in it. But I like it. So go watch the episodes and be prepared to discuss at knitting group on Friday night. Speaking of knitting, I'm knitting a toddler dress right now in some (truly) vintage (from like the early 60's) baby wool from my stash. 100% wool and I'm totally digging on the spit splice. Finally I'll leave you with this pic I snapped from my car. I was driving along crying and just looked up at the red light and saw it.

Lost in High School

I realized today when I saw his picture on the front page of the paper that I don't like the way Ben Bernanke looks. I think he looks entirely too smug and condescending. It's a pretty strong gut reaction. Obviously he resembles someone I've had a bad experience with.
Back to school today, and we didn't get off to a good start. Older Son called me at work at ~1:00 PM (college classes start for him next Monday) saying that the high school had called and Younger Son was absent. What?! I sent the kid off there this morning. Immediate panic set in as I frantically called the school to confirm whether he was really there or not. I told them I was ready to call the police. They found him. Turns out they'd just misplaced him. So now the homework wars start again. I hate school. I've been having nightmares about it for a solid week now.
But there has been some knitting. Unfortunately I can't show it to you because my camera and computer are having a failure to communicate. I want a new camera. I'll edit and add pics later if I can (they were cute baby pics, too!) I got pictures!
I finished this cute little romper for BabeE last week. Isn't it cute? (And not pink?) There's sparkly buttons for the butt too, but I didn't have thread to sew them on so her mom will have to. (Hey, it's not a free lunch, you know?) Pattern is "Florence" from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Collection. Here's the front:

We liked the retro feel of this pattern, and mom's a big fan of the seed stitch. And there's this beauty too:
(I can only take full credit for the sweater. I'll take partial credit for the baby. It was my birthday celebration that put that glimmer in her mother's eye.) April Baby. I subbed out the Gull pattern as I'm wont to do. Can't remember the name of this one, only that it was a six stitch pattern so I had to do some math to make it work out right. And her mom dyed the yarn, so I guess I can give her partial credit on the sweater too.

Coming Back

First off -- thanks everyone for your condolences. It means alot to me. I'm trying to get back to the business of life. I told my sisters that I don't know what to do with myself. I've been taking care of my parents for the past 15 years. My sisters were in town until yesterday morning, so yesterday evening and today have been a little hard since it's the first I've been on my own. I talked to everyone today and none of us are sleeping well. Then there's the issues around any kind of gathering, good or bad. Can you believe that one of the visitors at the viewing for my dad gave a family member grief because she didn't feel that she was paid enough attention while she was there?! Just thinking about it boggles my mind. "I was at this funeral home and the grieving family just didn't pay enough attention to me. They're all snooty and stuck up." Sheesh. (For the record, everyone did talk to her, someone was talking to her the whole time she was there, and she left because she said she had to be somewhere else.) Work has been very good, and it's helpful to keep busy. Unfortunately, though, I now have no excuse for putting off the housework I've been neglecting. Well, I did today because it's eleven thousand degrees out, and I'm not moving from my bed because any movement at all makes me break out in a sweat. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow...

Goodbye Pap

My dad passed away this morning. He slipped into unconsciousness yesterday morning and didn't wake back up.


I sat with him throughout the night and he never showed any signs of distress or discomfort. The last time I spoke to him was after a visit from Celtic Queen. His face lit up when he saw her and he was happier than I've seen him in weeks. It was a blessing.



We were very grateful that his end was peaceful. I imagine that he's enjoying a long-awaited reunion with his "Honey Bea" (his pet name for my mom) right now.



I was also fortunate that the nurse on call was a neighbor who knows me well, and so I knew he was in good hands.



As he himself said, he "lead a good long life and was really blessed."



He will be greatly missed by my sisters and I, (this is one of my sisters, not me in case you're wondering)



And all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Everyone who met him liked him, and I've heard over and over "He was a really good man."

Burn Me

I love Burn Notice. I was just saying to the boys how much better my life would be if I had good looking people with guns and plastic explosives on my side. Those hospital and nursing home people would straighten right up. And then they could start on my boss. The boys say that that world isn't the real world, but whatever! A girl can dream, right?
Anyway, there has been some knitting -- I finished an object, even.
I'm so-so about this sweater. It's Bad Penny from Knitty. I modified by using only one yarn, adding short row bust shaping, longer arms, and waist shaping. I love the mods, but they only went so far. I should have cast on fewer stitches (it's knit top-down) and done an increase after the ribbing for the neckline. My neck/shoulders aren't that much bigger around than someone w/ a 34" bust, but to get enough stitches for my size at the end of the raglan shaping (the distance from neck to underarm is about the same, too) I had to cast on waaaay too many stitches. It's ok at the beginning of the day when the yarn is still tight, but by the end of the day I'm like Carmen with my sweater drooping off one shoulder. Which surprisingly isn't all that attractive a look for me. Also, I've lost ~20 lbs since I started this sweater, so what was close fitting then is a little baggier now. Overall ok, but I may rip and re-knit over the winter for something better next summer. And today? For the first time in a long time I was too tired to knit, or spin, or do anything fibery. I'm watching TV and drinking beer. (Well, one beer and a couple fruity "malt beverages". I have a story about the beer.)

Birthday Link-Fest

It's that time of year again. Time to shop for your favorite forty-something fiberista (Apparently I'm all about the alliteration.) So here's a list of links to stuff I covet. So as to make the shopping easier on you all.

I love Etsy! Here are some of my favorite vendors:

KBShimmer One of my favorite indugences recently has been hand made soap. I am seriously lusting after some of these soaps (love the kaliedo-soap! And Caravan!)
Sparta Soap More handmade soap. I've bought from this seller, and was very happy. This is a local seller, too.

Fiber:
Dicentra
Jazz Turtle (love those batts)
Enchanted Knoll Love the sparkly batts and rovings (I've been looking out for Gold Dust Woman.)
TerraBellaSpun More batts
Butterfly Girl Designs Batts and spindles.
Zebisis Designs More batts and spindles.

Another recent find was varietal honey. I bought some from Bee Folks when I was in Maryland, and loved it! One of my fave "little indugences" is an afternoon cup of herbal tea with honey at work. (But I didn't care for killer bee honey.)

Knitterly Things is a favorite. I love all of Julia's fiber and yarn. (And it's really nice to get stuff from someone I know!)

Also, Amy King, aka Spunky Eclectic has a New Book (buy it from Amy at the link and she'll autograph it!) that I really want. And you know, you could order up some Custom Dyed Fiber while you're there. (For the uninitiated, choose the fiber here then state what colorway you want when you place the order. Yeah, I think it's a little clunky too, but I didn't design the website.)

A gift certificate to Bloomin Yarns wouldn't go amiss either.

A yogurt cheese maker. Homemade paneer! Yum!

And an an immersion blender. Soups and smoothies, here I come!

Whew! Enough choices for you all? I may update with more later.

TdF Day Two

I wound off the bobbin from yesterday (this wheel has only one bobbin) and started spinning a fresh bobbin of the same fiber for today's installment of the Tour de Fleece. I split my 8 oz. of fiber into two lots and will put each one on a bobbin (the bobbin will hold 4 oz of fiber). The plan is to mix and match the six lots while plying to get a more even distribution of singles.

My other TdF project at the moment is this spindle project with some wool from a vendor I can't remember at MDS&W. They're in one of the barns at the very end closest to the sheep barns, and they have lots of baskets of loose fiber in lots of colors stacked up on the walls. Anyone?

Here's a picture of the whole lot of this fiber, -- I think I have 2 and a half pounds of it or so. It's a wool/mohair mix maybe 50/50? I should have enough of this to make a sweater for myself, if I ever get it all spun up. The spindle is a Bosworth in tulipwood.

TdF - Day One

ONE of my projects for TdF is to spin up this fiber:
purchased at MDS&W in 2006. I had 1.5 lbs of it, and this
is the end of the first 8 oz. I'll start the second today. I also spun some of the blue fiber I bought at the same time on the spindle I bought then too. (It's like a MDS&W 2006 reunion.) Actually, that's just the stash bin I happened to open. Yeah, my stash is stratified by years, so what? Anyways, this yarn is destined to become a 3 ply which I will knit into either a sweater or vest, depending on yardage.